Your love is better than wine – Apr 26th

Wine glass splash on sxc.hu

Numbers 3

The Old Covenant priesthood was highly organised – not all Levites could be priests only the direct descendants of Aaron – not that the first two were killed for offering unauthorised fire. The rest of the tribe of Levi were to serve the priests, the people and the tabernacle itself – so they acted like pastors. The contrast with the New Covenant is huge – we don’t need a priest to mediate between us and God – Jesus has done that for us. Yet all believers are priests (1 Pet 2:9), called to show people the way to God through Jesus Christ alone.

These are days of salvation – who are you going to tell about Jesus? Are you going to come to the Foundations Course training session so you can be ready to help make and grow new disciples? (It’s on Sunday after the prayer meeting!)

Psalm 37

“Trust in the Lord and do good!”v3
“Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart”v4
How do you delight yourself in the Lord? Praising, singing, praying, thinking on delicious scriptures like that. Allowing daydreaming moments to become prayerful moments. Be a people of delighting in God!

“Be Still before the Lord and wait patiently for him” v7 – what a great Psalm, so many underlined verses. Be quiet and listen to God – what is he saying?

“Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret – it only leads to evil.” v8- get some anger management. Give your cares to God

“If the Lord delights in a man’s way. He makes his steps firm; though he stumble he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand.” v23-24 Hallelujah – God is delighted with you – he is lavishing Every spiritual blessing on you (Ephesians 1).

Songs 1

Is this about love between a man and woman, with courtship, wooing and marriage or is it about our relationship with Jesus? Both! Primarily I feel about love and sex, with a secondary meaning of our relationship with Jesus as His bride. “Climbing the palm tree and taking hold of its fruit” (7:7-9) is an exploration of the delights of the breasts of one’s wife, not about Jesus!

Your love is better than wine – commitment and consummation are key themes in the book!

Spurgeon took it to be about our relationship with Jesus. In his sermon Better than wine
Christ’s love is better than wine because of what it is not:

· It is totally safe, and may be taken without question – you can’t take too much.
· It doesn’t cost anything.
· Taking more of it does not diminish the taste of it.
· It is totally without impurities and will never turn sour.
· It produces no ill effects.

Christ’s love is better than wine because of what it is:

· Like wine, the love of Christ has healing properties.
· Like wine, the love of Christ is associated with giving strength.
· Like wine, the love of Christ is a symbol of joy.
· Like wine, the love of Christ exhilarates the soul.

Hebrews 1

God has spoken to us through His Son – who is the heir of all things.
Jesus is
The radiance of God’s glory – look at Jesus you see God’s glory
The exact representation of His being – look at Jesus you see God, because He is God
Sustaining all things by his powerful world – Jesus is creator and sustainer

He is sat down at the right hand – his work is finished – the cross and resurrection has done it all!
He is so much more than the angels – the author of Hebrews then backs it up with Old Testament quotations.